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Looking to buy sex? Welcome to John School

Men convicted of seeking to buy sex get a look at the risks they take and the damage they do to a community.

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By Joanne Huist Smith, Staff Writer Updated 8:49 AM Monday, March 1, 2010

DAYTON — A couple of the guys look like college students who could be spending their money on dates. Others are gray-haired grandfather types. Nobody chats up the fellow next to him. Most won’t even share their first name.

Dayton Probation Officer Jennifer Osborne sets the tone for the all-day class at the Montgomery County Job Center.

“This is John School. All of you are here for soliciting a prostitute. All of you are over 18,” she said. “Take off your coats and hats. You’re going to be here for awhile.”

It’s 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20. Fourteen men have been ordered, as a condition of their probation, to attend the school run by the Dayton Municipal Court Adult Probation Department.

On average, Dayton police make about 400 prostitution-related arrests per year for soliciting, loitering to solicit, public indecency or prostitution. This school deals exclusively with johns, men looking to buy sex.

Since June 2008, 139 men have been ordered to attend the school. Of those, just two have been arrested a second time on similar charges.

“I think the John School is beginning to have an impact,” Dayton police Sgt. Gary Lowe said.

‘It’s a quality  of life issue’

In 2007, 159 men were arrested in Dayton for soliciting prostitution. In 2009, the first full year of the John School, those arrests were down by 20.

The men are from all around the Dayton region.

“If we could cut down on the number of johns who come to Dayton to commit crimes, we’d be better off,” Lowe said. “It’s a quality of life issue.”

An analysis of Dayton police arrest data by the Dayton Daily News found that the majority of johns live inside Dayton’s city limits. The top two home ZIP codes of arrestees are 45403 and 45404, both in East Dayton with a portion of Riverside, the analysis found. Those two areas were home to 241 each and account for half of all men arrested for soliciting prostitution or loitering to solicit during the last 10 years.

The next four ZIP codes all include Dayton along with portions of Harrison and Butler townships and Vandalia.

The top source of johns outside the city was the 45424 ZIP code, which was home to 30 arrestees, and is mostly made up of Huber Heights, but also includes Riverside, East Dayton and a corner of Greene County.

Johns are charged $250 to attend the school. The fee covers program costs and will eventually fund a safe house for prostitutes trying to get out of the lifestyle.

Ed Utacht, Dayton’s assistant city prosecutor, draws the men out with questions. He asks for details of their arrests.

Four said police caught them with prostitutes.

Five solicited undercover police officers for sex.

One thought he was arranging to meet a prostitute over the Internet via Craigslist. He hooked up with an undercover cop.

Others claim they were just “helping a girl out.”

“I figured she was just out walking. I offered her a ride,” an older gentleman said.

A uniformed officer pulled the couple over around 3 a.m. in Dayton.

“I hope everyone understands that it is no one’s fault but your own that you are here,” Utacht said.

‘No-deal policy’ for prostitution arrests

The assistant prosecutor tells the men his first impression of a prostitute was shaped by the movies, but he has found that image off the mark.

“I was picturing a leggy girl in fishnet hose,” he said. “That’s not the girl you’re getting in Dayton. If she looks too good to be true, she is too good to be true.”

Attractive prostitutes are often undercover cops or new to the business.

“The girls (prostitutes) out there in Dayton are not good looking,” Utacht said. “What are you thinking when you do this?”

Utacht said the city has a “no-deal policy” for prostitution-related offenses.

“If you’re charged with soliciting a prostitute, we’re not going to accept pleas. With a second conviction, we’re going to expect you to do jail time,” he said.

The men get a five-minute break when Utacht leaves. They must ask permission to go to the restroom.

The next lesson is more graphic and raw.

The men look at photos of sex organs inflamed by sexually transmitted diseases. The johns squirm, one covers his eyes with his hands. The images, from Public Health — Dayton and Montgomery County, flash across a screen for nearly an hour.

“We’ve got 48 prostitutes in Dayton, men and women, who are HIV positive,” an undercover Dayton detective said. “If we have 48 convicted prostitutes who are HIV positive, you can imagine how many more there are that we don’t know about.”

The detective, who asked his name not be used due to the nature of his job, said vice cops role play, like actors, to catch johns.

“We watch the cars. When you drive up and down Main Street eight times, we know what you’re doing. You might think no one is watching you, but we are,” he said. “We don’t wear suits. We don’t wear ties. We drive ugly cars.”

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